María Elvira Salazar: “I rise to speak against the Alexander amendment No. 3553. I do so with some regret because he and I have worked on so…”

“I rise to speak against the Alexander amendment No. 3553. I do so with some regret because he and I have worked on so many matters together in a bipartisan spirit. But on this particular amendment, he is simply wrong for two reasons. First and foremost, the amendment would strike a blow against what we are trying to do to create a new clean energy future by crippling our attempts to move forward with a new agenda on wind power. Second, it would bring the Congress into an intruding position on matters that ought to be about land use at the local and State level, in the traditions of this country. So for those two reasons, I am going to ask my colleagues to join in opposition to the amendment. The small wind power microturbine tax credit we are proposing as part of the farm bill brought forward in a bipartisan way from the Finance Committee is a provision that enjoys tremendous bipartisan support. On the Republican side, Senators Smith, Craig, Murkowski, and Coleman have all been champions of the small wind energy tax credit; on the Democratic side, Senator Sanders, Dorgan, Feinstein, Kerry, Wyden, Stabenow, and Johnson have all been supporters and cosponsors of the underlying legislation, S. 673. That group of Senators shows the kind of bipartisan support we have for small wind power in America.”